Zalando's AI shopping agent will buy at other shops in 2027

Zalando, the European online fashion retailer, unveiled its first AI shopping agent on Tuesday 3 November, one that will let customers buy products from other retailers through the Zalando app [1]. The checkout part waits. Zalando plans AI-assisted checkout on its Zalando Extended platform in 2027, with AI agents helping complete purchases from other online retailers without the customer leaving the app, and a pilot with the home furnishings retailer Westwing is under way [1].

The launch landed with third-quarter results. Gross margin fell 0.9 percentage points to 38.7%, below expectations according to analysts at Jefferies and JPMorgan, while revenue rose 5.1% to €3.17 billion and gross merchandise value rose 7.5% to €4.54 billion [1]. JPMorgan told clients the stock could drift lower, citing “ongoing structural risk from agentic commerce development” [1]. Zalando’s answer to that risk is to be the agent rather than one more shelf an outside agent compares in agentic commerce, the same bet Amazon made last week with Alexa for Shopping [5].

Sunrate issues agents a card that expires with the task

Sunrate, a payment and treasury platform for businesses, launched Sunrate Agentic Card at Hong Kong FinTech Week on Monday 2 November: a programmable, multi-currency virtual commercial card for AI agents that pay on a company’s behalf within rules the company sets [2]. The card has completed certification for Mastercard Agent Pay [2]. Businesses can limit merchant category, amount, currency, geography and validity period, a card can expire automatically once its task is done, and every action is recorded [2]. The early case Sunrate names is an online travel agency issuing one card per marketing campaign or supplier payment [2]. The release names no launch customers and no issuing markets.

Four days earlier Mastercard chief executive Michael Miebach called a virtual card number for agents “a bridge” and said “that’s not a long-term solution that we will support” [6]. He was describing a choice processors make. Sunrate’s is a commercial card for business spend, and it is certified on Agent Pay.

Aion makes every agent payment wait for a person

Aion, a finance platform for growing businesses, launched Aion Agent on 2 November to pay bills, chase invoices and prepare close reports across its banking, payments, cards and credit products [3]. Every payment, submission and signature it prepares waits for a person on the client’s team to approve it [3]. The agent has its own browser for vendor and customer portals; when it needs to sign in, the client types the credentials into a secure panel and the agent never sees them [3]. It also answers questions inside Claude, ChatGPT and Claude in Slack, though “a reply in chat never approves anything; money moves only after approval inside Aion” [3]. It is available now to all Aion clients [3].

IXOPAY sells the plumbing, from 2027

IXOPAY, a payment orchestration and tokenisation company, announced IXO One on 3 November, a modular platform its chief executive Ajoy Krishnamoorthy says lets merchants “support AI-agent-initiated transactions” [4]. Its Agentic Suite has a Payment Agent meant to connect merchant and third-party shopping agents without a separate integration per protocol, tokens that keep raw card data away from agents while recording agent identity, customer consent and purchase intent for disputes, and an MCP server that lets approved AI assistants run authorised payment tasks [4]. General availability of the first unified version is planned for early 2027 [4]. Yahoo Finance runs the announcement as a paid press release.

Zalando has not given a month for its own 2027 checkout [1].